Getting High
Page 45
Special thanks also to Peggy Gallagher for taking the time to talk so candidly with me, a stranger in her house. This book would have been so much more poorer without her contribution. Major thanks also to Meg Matthews and the Oasis manager, Marcus Russell. Their contributions proved invaluable.
To all the other people connected to this amazing story and who graciously took time out to talk, I owe a real debt. They are Alan McGee, Owen Morris, Tim and Chris Abbot, Tony Griffiths, Graham Lambert and Johnny Hopkins.
Information also came from a series of informal chats that I found myself having with, Bobby Gillespie, Jeff Barrett, Bob Stanley, Johnny Marr, Martin and Paul Kelly, Andres Lokko, Tony Meehan, Miranda Sawyer, Tony Hedley, Marc Riley and the incorrigible Gareth Crowley. Again, a big yo and many thanks for your comments and insights.
In terms of research, I couldn’t have asked for a more professional approach than that given to me by Beatrice Venturini. Her approach and dedication was, in the parlance of the group, double top. Similarly, Debbie Hicks at Go! Discs Records transcribed my interview tapes with a thoroughness that helped ease much of the weight from my shoulders. I am indebted to both women for their encouragement and hard work. My thanks also to Professor Mervyn Busteed for his more than helpful contribution to the history of Manchester section, and to Andy Spinoza for his help in detailing Manchester’s club scene.
In terms of the band’s radio and TV appearances I was greatly helped by Simon Kelly, who supplied me with three tapes filled with every Oasis TV appearance from start to early 1996. Many thanks. Also, seconds out and big thanks to Dean Powell whose procurement of certain CDs was just as valuable.
Thanks also to the eternal Mod, Eugene Manzi at London Records, daddy Nick White at Island, Iona at EMI’s Premier label, and Matteo Sedazzi for supplying me with music that was absent from my collection but helped me no end in understanding Noel’s writing and the subsequent Oasis sound.
Big thanks also to two guys and two gals at Anglo Plugging. They are head honcho Garry Blackburn, head of radio Dylan White, head of T.V. Karen Williams, and Ms. Bally Cheena.
Thanks also to the work put in by the band’s photographer, Jill Furmanovsky, and her assistant Merle. Great gals, happy snappers. Another shout across town to Alec and Chris at Ignition Management for their patience in taking all my calls and answering all my questions.
I would also like to thank the following people for their help down the line. They are Stephanie Fertardo, Mark McNulty, Dean Marsh, Johnny Chandler, Mark Coyle, Phil Smith, David Irving, Andrew Whitelegg, Johnny and Kate, Fran and Charlotte Cutler, Digsy and all in Smaller, Pete Johnson, Len Brown, Brian Cannon, Irvine Welsh and Anne, all those connected to the Primal Scream, Real People and Ocean Colour Scene brigades, Andy MacDonald, Mike Heneghan, Michelle Potts, Fergus and Pete, Pippa Hall, Tony Crean, Naomi for the Bobby pie, Pete and Claire Barrett, George and Jenny, John and Anne Weller, Kenny Wheeler, Pete Garland and his beautiful family, the Woking boys and gals, Jim Le Hat, Mark Lewisohn, BBC2 for re-running The Phil Silvers Show, my two sisters Frankie and Nina, plus their husbands Pete and Alan, my three nieces Katy, Tanya Susannah, and the ever supportive Ms. Jess of Fulham’s Cars and Bars, and Dean Kavanagh.
Top marks as ever to my daughter, Sarah Jane Bacchuss, plus the three geezers who go by the names of Paul Weller, Sir Simon Halfon and Marco Nelson. They are HEAVYWEIGHTS! Thanks also to Travis and Tash, who live in the nearest faraway place, to Dr. Eyal Lederman for sorting the movement on my shoulder so quickly, (‘It’s okay, I’ll fix that’), and a special yo to my NHS physician, Dr. Le Roi Griffiths for his indispensable dispensary of medications. Last but never least, many big thanks to Ruth, Patsy, Kate and her daughter Lucy.
All the tour reports to be found in this book were helped no end by the Oasis road crew who went out of their way to make my ‘holidays’ with the band so enjoyable. For their care and general piss-taking, big thanks to Maggie, Jason, Scotty, Hugh, PK, Bear, Frank, Roger (Bradford football in the shops) and Trigger.
My thanks also to Jake Lingwood at Boxtree for his editorial input, general encouragement, impossible demands and for steering this book through the rocky waters to its graceful conclusion. Thanks to Jenny Parrott for her immense copyediting skills.
About The Author
Paolo Hewitt has been for over thirty years one of the U.K.’s foremost writers on popular music. Cutting his teeth at the NME for seven years in the eighties, he also moonlighted as the ‘Cappuccino Kid’, whose musings and manifesti adorned the covers of Style Council albums.
Paolo has written over twenty books, including Getting High: The Adventures of Oasis, Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful and the novel Heaven’s Promise (all available as ebooks from the Dean Street Press). Other than music, recurrent themes in his writing include mod culture, football and fashion.
Also by Paolo Hewitt
Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful
Heaven’s Promise (a novel)
The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology (editor)
Published by Dean Street Press 2015
Copyright © 1997 Paolo Hewitt
Oasis lyrics © 1994, 1995 Noel Gallagher Oasis Music/Creation Songs Limited/Song Music Publishing, 13 Great Marlborough Street, London
Transcript of G.L.R radio show, 22 February 1995, reprinted by kind permission of Noel Gallagher.
Cover photograph © Jill Furmanovsky
www.jillfurmanovsky.com
www.rockarchive.com
All Rights Reserved
The right of Paolo Hewitt to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 1997 by Boxtree
ISBN 978 1 910570 04 3
www.deanstreetpress.co.uk